Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Context

With Babbitt (1922) Sinclair Lewis consolidated the
reputation he had earned with his first best-selling novel, Main
Street (1920). Like Main Street, Babbitt not only
became a best seller, but it generated controversy, became a US
cultural phenomenon, and eventually contributed a new word to the
language. (Although the word “babbitt” has come to mean a “smugly
conventional person,” George F. Babbitt is a more complex
individual – and more troubled – than the dictionary definition
would suggest.) Babbitt is the story of a middle-aged real
estate broker who faces a series of psychological crises that
reveal to him the emptiness of his superficially successful and
prosperous life. As a …

Citation:
Fleming, Robert E.. "Babbitt". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 March 2001
[https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10532, accessed 19 March 2018.]